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The Treasury Department said it has received more than 100 applications from companies looking to buy toxic assets from banks, signaling strong interest in a program that has gotten mixed reviews since its launch last month.

Companies applying for consideration to buy the assets include fixed income, real estate, and alternative asset managers, according to a Treasury statement.

A spokesman declined to identify the kind of fund managers that accounted for the majority of applications.

The Treasury said it would start to notify applicants who cleared the preliminary hurdle around May 15. After that, selected managers can start raising funds starting at $500m (€377.2m) which, pending the next qualifying round, will be matched with taxpayer money to invest in toxic assets.

Critics have cited the relatively short time-frame for fundraising and the minimum half-billion fundraising limit excluded smaller fund managers. But Treasury reiterated its plan to keep the door open to these companies for future participation. The department “anticipates opening the program to smaller fund managers in the future, which may result in a lower minimum private capital raising requirement.”

This week, distressed investor Wilbur Ross said it would be willing to invest up to $1bn as part of money manager Invesco’s application to take part in the toxic asset relief program. Ross is chairman of WL Ross & Co., the distressed-investment affiliate of money manager Invesco and chairman of its Invesco Private Capital unit.

The toxic assets on bank balance sheets are at the heart of the financial crisis. The program is designed to relieve banks of these legacy loans and securities which have led them to make billions in writedowns, shed thousands of jobs, or shut down.